


Four Superheroes, One Base

by kamala_khan_for_president



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-11-03 19:09:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17883611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamala_khan_for_president/pseuds/kamala_khan_for_president
Summary: The Avengers' Compound was designed as a base to home a large team, so only four people living there makes it seem empty. But large personalities, crazy antics and poorly thought through plans fill the empty space.Or, the Avengers lives post-Thanos but as a sitcom.





	1. Just Add Ethanol

“Natasha, what are you doing?” Steve asked. In the past three months of it being just him, Natasha, Bruce and Thor living at the Compound, he’d realised just how weird some of teammates could be.

The assassin looked up from where she was sat on the kitchen counter. She several bottles of alcohol on the counter next to her, split into two separate piles. In one hand she held a bottle of vodka and another bottle that it looked like she’d stolen from the labs. “Sometimes I like to sit on the counter instead of a chair”

“I mean what are you adding to the vodka?” Steve asked again.

“You and Thor can’t get drunk from normal alcohol, so I’m mixing it with ethanol to see if that works,” Natasha explained.  
Bruce rounded the corner into the room just as Natasha told Steve what she was doing. “Nat, that’s a terrible idea. Drinking pure ethanol is not good for you”

“It’s not pure ethanol,” Natasha argued. “It’s diluted with the rest of the alcohol. Besides, it’s Steve and Thor, they have faster rates of healing than the rest of us. They’ll both be fine”

“And you also want to get me drunk?” Bruce asked.

“The Other Guy hasn’t shown his face in months, and after the last few months, you need this as much as the rest of us do,” Natasha replied.

It was true, Bruce hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the Hulk since Thanos had attacked the Asgardian’s ship. In the months post-Thanos, he and the other remaining Avengers had tried everything they could think of to try and contact the Other Guy, but so far they’d had no luck.

“I’m not sure,” Bruce said, looking unconvinced.

“You don’t have to,” Natasha reassured. “And if anything happens I hear that the lullaby still works”

Bruce flushed red at Natasha’s teasing tone. “What are you talking about?”

“Thor may have mentioned that him accidently turning on the video of the last video call to the quinjet, which was me trying to get you to come back, and that’s what turned you back into you when you were on Sakaar,” Natasha said.

“He told you that?” Bruce asked. “Out of everything that happened on Sakaar, that’s what he told you? Why would he do that?”

“He said it was something that he thought I needed to know,” Natasha explained.

Steve was stood watching the interactions between the two, feeling very awkward with the growing tension between the two teammates. Like many of the strange things that had been happening in the Compound as of recently, this had been going on for months, to the point that it was beginning to drive Steve and Thor insane. Steve briefly considered giving the pair the room but knew that there wasn’t any point to him doing that. It was beginning to seem like nothing was ever going to happen between the two.

Thor finally arrived, giving Steve backup in the awkward situation. Thor seemed completely oblivious of the tension in the room, until he saw the look on Steve’s face. He groaned silently and rolled his eyes, before sticking his fake smile back on his face.

“What’s going on in here?” he asked.

“I made you and Steve alcohol that will actually get you drunk,” Natasha explained as she held a bottle of beer to Thor.

“That or it will kill you,” Bruce said. “She mixed pure ethanol in there and I don’t know if that’s safe to drink”

Thor shrugged and took the bottle off Natasha. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Death,” Bruce answered flatly. “That’s the worst that can happen. I literally just explained that”

Thor took a large swig from the bottle regardless, downing the bottle so quickly that even Natasha, who was used to being the quickest drinker, raised one eyebrow in shock.

“It’s not that bad,” he said after a moment. He looked over at Steve. “Are you having any?”

Steve sighed and took one of the bottle Natasha had made up for him and Thor and took a large drink, the taste burning at the back of his throat for a moment. But, Thor was right, it didn’t taste that bad. Sure, it didn’t taste good, but Steve had had worse.

“What about you Bruce?” Natasha asked.

Bruce looked between the rest of the group for a few moments before reluctantly taking a bottle from the untampered pile. “This is peer pressure,” he argued. He glanced at Steve. “Didn’t you do a PSA on this? You’re a hypocrite”

Natasha cheered loudly as Bruce downed half the bottle of beer in one go. She looked at the large collection of bottles on the counter. “Anyone want anymore?”

***

Within an hour, all four were sat on the floor around the coffee table, empty bottles littered on the ground all around them. Natasha’s phone started to buzz on the table. She squinted at the number on the screen before picking up.

“Avenger’s Compound, cute one speaking, how may I help you?” Natasha said with a laugh. She threw her hand up to cover the end of the phone as she whispered something to the rest of the group. “It’s Cathy from the front desk”

The others laughed lightly at Natasha’s expense. None of them had gotten on particularly well with Cathy since they had returned to the Compound as she was one of the many people that held the Avengers personally responsible for what had happened when half the universe died, as she thought that the Avengers hadn’t done their job properly by not defeating Thanos.

“Okay, yeah, we’ll be down in a second,” Natasha said to Cathy. She hung up the phone and giggled as she turned to the others. “Did we order a pizza?”

“I think we did,” Steve answered. “Or several. Me and Thor eat a lot”

“If there’s many to carry, I can help with that,” Thor offered.

“Sure,” Natasha agreed. She and Thor jumped to their feet and headed out of private area of the Compound and towards the front desk, doing their best to conceal how drunk they were.

Bruce watched them as they went, or rather, he watched Natasha. Once they’d gone, he sighed rested his head on his arms which were folded up on the coffee table in front of him.

“What’s wrong?” Steve asked, even though he knew fully well what was going on.

“I still feel bad about how we left things after Sokovia three years ago,” Bruce said. “She asked me to come back and I just left and ended up stuck on an alien planet for three years.  I told her why I didn’t come back, and she said she understood why, but I don’t know if we can ever go back to where we were. Which is sad. I want us to go back to where we were, and then move on from there like we said we would”

Steve stared at Bruce. “You’re talking a lot more than normal”

“It’s because of this,” Bruce said, lifting up the bottle. He stared at the bottle for a moment, as if trying to remember what it was called. “This talky-talk juice.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “That sounds right. The talky-talk juice of making me talky-talk”

“Maybe you should talky-talk to Natasha, instead of me,” Steve suggested. “You’re not going to get very far with her by not talking to her”

“Because you’re known for having a good approach to your love life,” Bruce teased, trying to get the focus away from his disastrous love life. 

Stevelooked down, a sad look on his face. “Sorry, talking about Peggy was probably going too far”

Steve sniggered slightly before starting to properly laugh. He fell backwards against the sofa, laughing loudly. “I didn’t think you were talking about Peggy,” he laughed. “I wasn’t that bad with Peggy in comparison to other failures in my love life”

The door opened up again as Thor and Natasha walked back into the room, arms filled with food.

“What’s going on?” Natasha asked.

“I was making fun of Steve for his love life,” Bruce explained. “And apparently I missed something”

“Oooh,” Natasha said. She started to talk in a sing-song voice. “Steve’s got a crush.” She and Thor walked back over to the other two and dumped all the food on the table. “Who is it?”

Steve didn’t respond for a few moments, instead looking at the floor. He looked back up a few times, but each time noticed Natasha staring at him. He sighed and finally answered. “Bucky”

Natasha blinked a couple of times but seemed to take it well. “Damn, I’m sorry,” she replied, passing him over one of the bottles for him and Thor. “Did you ever get a chance to talk to him? You know, tell him how you really felt?”

Steve shook his head. “Never really clicked until we were on the run. And by that point he was in cryo in Wakanda. There wasn’t enough time before the battle to talk. And now he’s gone”

The sobering atmosphere in the room was broken by Thor as he held a pizza box out to Steve. “I know this won’t help completely but try eating some pizza. I usually find that food makes me feel better”

“And some more booze as well,” Bruce suggested.

Natasha shot Bruce a look. “Look who changed their tune”

Bruce shrugged. “I was wrong. I like the talky-talk juice”

“Talky-talk juice?” Thor asked.

Steve nodded. “Because it makes you talky-talk. About your feelings and shit”

“LANGUAGE!” Bruce, Natasha and Thor all yelled at once.

Steve groaned and rolled his eyes. “That was three years ago, can you guys just drop it already?”

“Never,” Natasha laughed. “So you and Bucky, huh? I’m actually really annoyed with myself that I managed to miss that. All those times that I tried to set you up with girls at work, if I had just known that guys were more your thing…”

“Did you ever tell him that you’re gay?” Bruce asked.

Steve shook his head. “Bi”

Bruce looked worried. “Was that too far? I’m sorry, please don’t leave”

Steve gave Bruce a confused look. “What are you talking about?”

“You said bye, where are you going?”

“No, I said bi as in bisexual,” Steve laughed. “I’m bisexual”

“Ayyy,” Natasha said. She held her hand out for a high five and laughed when she got one. “Same. We bis got to stick together”

“This has been an interesting conversation,” Thor said. “I guess this is what happens when superheroes discuss their love lives”

“Speaking of, how’s things going with you and Jane?” Natasha asked.

Thor sighed and his shoulders drooped. Despite being over six foot and a literal god, he still managed to look like a sad puppy. “We broke up two years ago”

Everyone else’s faces quickly changed to match Thor’s, having not heard the news before now.

“You should take your own advice,” Steve suggested. “And eat the pizza”

Thor nodded and took the pizza from the box. He took three slices at once and stacked them all on top of each other and took a bit from the monster slice.

“How’s your love life going Nat?” Bruce asked. He was shocked with himself for being bold enough to ask Natasha that. It must have been the talky-talk juice.

Natasha laughed loudly. “Bold of you to assume I have a love life.” She and Bruce made awkward eye contact as she finished talking and both flushed bright red.

“So, basically, we’ve established that none of us have decent love lives,” Steve said, saving Bruce and Natasha from the awkward tension.

“This is Clint and Tony erasure,” Natasha argued. “They’re both in stable relationships”

“They may have decent love lives, but they’re not exactly fully functioning adults,” Steve pointed out.

“Is there such thing as a functioning superhero?” Thor asked.

“Duh, Rhodey,” Bruce answered to a chorus of ‘oh yeah’ from the others.

The group returned to silence once more.

“So, what do we do now?” Thor asked.

“We eat pizza, drink beer and I’m going to see if anyone has beaten my high scores on Just Dance since our lil fight at the airport,” Natasha answered.

***

Some of Natasha’s high scores had been beaten and she was determined to get them back. This is what led to her competing against Thor, dancing along to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun as Steve and Bruce watched.

Steve leaned over to Bruce. “Are you going to talky-talk to her?”

“I don’t know”

“I think you should, but hey, what do I know? Couldn’t even tell my bestie that I loved him,” Steve said with a shrug.

***

Natasha and Bruce left Steve and Thor playing Mario Kart as they took the pizza boxes to the bins. They went straight to the big bins outside, not wanting to try and shove them all into the bin in the kitchen. The cool air outside sobered Bruce up a little. Not enough to take away the confidence that the talky-talk juice gave him, but enough to make him realise that Steve was right: he had to talk to Natasha. Whatever was going on between them wasn’t going to get any better if they both just ignored it and if they didn’t sort it out soon, then it was just going to keep making things awkward between the two of them, as well as for Thor and Steve.

“Natasha, I think we need to talk,” Bruce said. Natasha turned to look at him but didn’t say anything. “I know you said it was fine, but I really am sorry about the way we left things and I’m sorry I was gone for so long. And I’m sorry for-”

Bruce was cut off by Natasha pressing a finger to his lips. “Bruce, enough with the talking”

“What you rather do than talk?” Bruce asked, feeling a little flustered. “We can’t leave things as they are now, it’s not fair on either of us”

Natasha didn’t answer him, not verbally anyway. Instead, she grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him close as she pressed her lips against his. Bruce was shocked at first but was quick to kiss her back, his hands coming up to knot themselves in her hair.

After a few moments, Natasha pulled back. “This is great, but why don’t we take this somewhere other than next to the bins”

***

Thor and Steve were still playing Mario Kart when they heard the doors open again. They waited for Bruce and Natasha to reappear, but they never did. Instead, they heard the sound of one of the bedroom doors opening and closing.

“I’m presuming they won’t be joining us again this evening,” Thor said.

“Doesn’t seem like it”

“Well, good for them”

***

Steve woke several hours later than usual the next morning. He groaned in pain at the pounding in his head: as much as he’d enjoyed being able to get drunk for the first time in years, he had certainly not missed the accompanying hangover. He dragged himself out of bed and towards the kitchen in search of food. When he got there, Natasha was already stood in front of the coffee machine making two cups of coffee, wearing a t-shirt that Steve could’ve sworn Bruce had been wearing the night before. She looked over at him as he came in.

“What happened to your beard?” she asked.

Steve rubbed his hand over his cheek and was briefly shocked to find his skin cleanly shaven until he remembered what happened the night before. “Thor got really sad that I copied his look so I shaved it off”

“I’m sorry I missed it.” She picked up the mugs and started to walk out the kitchen.

“Hey, Nat,” Steve called out to her as she left. “We have a meeting with Ross later”

“I know”

“You might want to cover up that hickey before then”

Natasha glowered at her friend as she left the room, narrowly missing walking into Thor as she left.

“We’re going to tease them about this for so long, aren’t we?” Thor said.

Steve laughed. “Oh, so long”


	2. Back In the Closet

Natasha was power-walking her way through the Compound, desperate to find the other residents. She hurried through the corridors towards the private areas of the Compound and slipped through the doors, constantly checking over her shoulder to make she wasn’t being watched. She heard the sounds of the others laughing in the living room.

“We need to go,” she announced. She looped one arm through Bruce’s and grabbed Thor’s arm with her other hand. She didn’t have a free hand to grab Steve and drag him along with her, but instead gave him a look that Steve had knew meant he needed to follow her now without asking any questions. After two years living on the run as international fugitives together, the two had developed a form of non-verbal communication that had mainly consisted of glaring and sarcastically raised eyebrows.

“What’s going on?” Bruce asked as Natasha led them down the corridor. His girlfriend shushed him as they hurried down the corridor.

“Ross is here again,” she answered, keeping her voice barely above a whisper. “We need to go. I am never going to sit through a meeting with that man again. Not after last time.” Natasha shuddered slightly at the memory.

“We weren’t _that_ hungover,” Bruce argued.

“No, but I did have a hickey on my neck the entire time,” Natasha snapped. “No thanks to you”

Bruce blushed and made the smart decision not to try and argue back, instead of letting Natasha continue to lead the group down the hall. They slipped quietly past empty conference rooms and unused offices. They’d almost reached the end of the hall when they heard the sound of voices heading towards them.

“That’s Pepper and Rhodey,” Steve said, identifying two of the three voices.

“And Ross,” Natasha added. She swore quietly under her breath. She knew there was no way that they’d make it back to the other end of the corridor in time, so Natasha shoved open the door to the nearest office and herded the others inside. Or at least, Natasha thought it was an office. Instead, the Avengers were now stuck crowded together in a small cleaning supply cupboard.

“Well this was a great plan,” Steve said sarcastically.

Natasha glared at him. “I didn’t see you coming up with any ideas. You’re lucky I even warned you in the first place. I could’ve just left you behind and hidden on my own”

“Like you would ever do that to Bruce,” Steve countered.

Natasha smirked at Steve. “That’s why I’m not talking to him, just you.” She poked Steve in the chest on the last word to emphasise her point.

“Guys, shut up,” Thor hissed. He was peering through what appeared to be a crack in the wall at the back of the cupboard.

Natasha peered at the wall for a moment. “Is that another a door?” she asked. Thor nodded. “Why are there two doors on the cupboard?”

“I don’t know, but Pepper, Rhodey and Ross are coming into this conference room,” Thor hissed back.

Steve, Bruce and Natasha rushed over to the other side of the cupboard as fast as one could rush to the other side of the cupboard, elbowing each other out of the way as they each found a crack in the wooden door to peer through the door.

They watched as Ross, Rhodey and Pepper filed into the room and took their seats. Ross looked around the room, as if the Avengers were going to burst out of the door of one of the cupboards lining the back wall, which it was possible that they could, they weren’t going to.

“Where are Rogers, Romanoff, Banner and Thor?” he asked.

“No idea,” Rhodey answered. “Natasha went to find the others, so they should all be here soon”

“Can we get back out the other side?” Bruce whispered.

Natasha shook her head. “Not without them noticing that we’re here. Hopefully, they won’t be long”

“We’ll start without them then,” Ross decided. “We’ll start with item number one of twenty-seven on the agenda in front of you”

The hiding Avengers did their best to suppress the groans of annoyance when they heard how long the meeting was going to be.

“I think you jinxed babe,” Bruce teased. Natasha shot him a mock glare, but scrunched her face up in an annoyed, but cute, way when Bruce pressed a kiss to her forehead in response.

“Wait,” Steve said. “Did you just call her ‘babe’?”

Natasha sighed. “Oh, this is going to be a long meeting.” She slumped to the floor and held her head in her hands. Bruce slid down next to her and looped one arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to his side.

“It’ll be over before you know it,” Bruce reassured. He paused for a moment as a mischievous grin spread over his face. “It’ll be fine, babe”

“Oh, you are so sleeping in your old room tonight,” Natasha joked.

“Guys, can you keep the couples fighting down?” Thor asked. “They’re going to hear us”

Steve bit back a laugh as he watched the couple; Bruce practically holding Natasha back from attacking Thor. He also sat down on the floor and got himself comfortable, having a feeling they were going to be there a while.

***

“Hey, Steve,” Natasha whispered. It had been just under an hour and the group of four superheroes all squished on the floor were starting to get bored listening to Ross drone on. “You’re back in the closet”

Steve glared at her. “So are you”

“Touché, Cap. Touché”

***

“I think they’re almost done,” Thor finally said, almost three hours later.

Steve, Bruce and Natasha perked up at the news.

“Thank god for that,” Natasha muttered. The group all stood up again and squished around the door as the peered back into the conference room.

“And that’s it for today’s meeting,” Ross said. He stood from his chair and packed away the documents from the meeting back into his briefcase. Rhodey and Pepper stood as well. Rhodey stepped over towards the door and opened it for Ross as Pepper cleared up the rest of the documents on the table.

“Thanks for coming,” Rhodey said to Ross. “And I’m so sorry that the others couldn’t make it. I’ll make sure they show up next time”

He disappeared out of sight for a moment, as did Ross, and the others heard the sound of the door opening and closing.

“I can’t believe they didn’t show,” Rhodey said.

Pepper scoffed and looked up to talk to him. “Really? Of course, they didn’t. I wish I hadn’t shown either”

Rhodey was just out of the Avengers’ sight and the group crowded further around the door in an attempt to see where he’d gone. There was a sudden clicking sound and the door swung open, the four heroes hidden inside toppling out on top of each other in a heap on the floor.

“How did you know we’d be in there?” Steve asked.

Rhodey shrugged. “Lucky guess”

“Why is the cupboard double sided?” Thor asked as they got off the floor.

“Tony designed the cupboards to like that especially for hiding from Ross,” Pepper explained. “After that, Peter used to hide in them. There was no chance that Ross would ever let a kid join in on the meetings, so he’d hide out in there”

Bruce looked confused. “Who’s Peter?”

“Spider-Kid,” Natasha said. “From the airport in Germany”

“Wait, how old was he?” Steve asked.

“Sixteen the last time any of us saw him,” Pepper answered.

“Oh my god,” Steve muttered. “I beat up a fourteen-year-old. I dropped part of an airport on an actual child. Oh, shit.” He looked up Natasha. “I am never going to live this down now, am I?”

“Not a chance”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Captain Marvel was fucking amazing. And after that post-credits scene, I am definitely planning on dragging Carol in the next chapter


	3. Captain Carol 'Avenger' Danvers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have two other chapters planned, one half written already and hopefully, I'll have both of them posted before Endgame when all my headcanons and faves are killed

“Where’s Fury?”

Bruce yelped in shock at the sudden appearance of the woman. Everyone else looked just as shocked but managed to not freak out as Bruce did.

“Where’s Fury?” the woman repeated. She looked behind them to the pager. “I gave that to him to be used in emergencies only. Where is he?”

“We found it,” Natasha explained coolly. “It was at his last known location. We picked it up when we went looking for him. Who are you?”

“My name’s Carol Danvers,” she replied. “Wait, last known location? Everywhere I’ve been the last few months, people keep saying the same thing, half of everyone turned to dust. Is that what happened to Fury?”

“I’m so sorry,” Steve said. He didn’t answer the question directly, but Carol knew the answer. She slumped against the wall, holding her head in her hands and looking defeated. “Listen, do you want to talk? We knew Fury as well and we’re trying to stop the person who killed him and all the others”

Carol nodded. She looked over to the pager. “I’m keeping that,” she said as she marched over and snatched the pager up from where it was wired up. She clutched it tightly in her hands and allowed the others to lead her through the Compound until they reached the private living areas. Thor was cooking something in the kitchen and Pepper was sat at the table a load of paperwork spread around her. They both looked up when they heard the doors open and the group walked in.

Thor squinted in confusion when he saw Carol. “Who is this?” he asked. “Is this someone else that you befriended whilst I was away from Midgard?”

“No, this is someone we befriended about three minutes ago,” Natasha explained. “She’s the one Fury was trying to contact”

“How did you know Fury?” Pepper asked as the whole group moved to sit around the sofas, Thor making sure that the stove was off first.

Carol shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She’d ended up sat with everyone else facing her. “We met twenty-five years ago. He helped me protect a group of Skrull refugees from the Kree who had taken me from Earth six years.”

Natasha suddenly perked up when she heard Carol’s explanation. “You knew Fury when he fought the Kree?” she exclaimed. She looked over at the others. “That was when he lost an eye”

“Wait, what was he telling everyone about all that?” Carol asked.

“The Kree tried to get information from him and when he refused, they took his eye,” Natasha explained.

Carol laughed lightly. “That is so not what happened. He lost his eye by annoying a flerken, a highly violent space cat. He kept getting in Goose’s face and she clawed his eye”

Steve looked at Carol. “So what your saying is that twas a cat?”

“Yeah, basically,” Carol replied.

Rhodey stared at Steve in confusion. “Did you just quote Brooklyn Nine-Nine?”

“Well, yeah,” Steve said.

“You watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine?” Pepper asked.

“Obviously,” Steve answered. “It’s set in Brooklyn”

A chorus of muttered agreements echoed around the group.

Carol seemed confused. “What’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine?”

“How have you never heard of Brooklyn Nine-Nine?” Steve asked, seeming horrified. “It’s amazing, it’s set in Brooklyn”

“In my defence, I haven’t been here since the nineties,” Carol argued. “I may have missed out on quite a bit.” She sat back in her chair, thinking for a moment, before speaking again. “Do you know where he was staying? He’s been looking after something for me, and I need to see if it’s still there”

***

Steve, Natasha, Bruce and Carol pulled up outside the building Hill and Fury had been staying in.

Bruce stared up at the tall tower block. “How are we supposed to get in?” he asked.

“Walk in like we own the place,” Natasha asked. She led the group forwards and through the door. A few people seemed surprised to see the superheroes walking into the building, but none made any sort of attempt to stop them. The group went up three floors and down a hallway until Natasha stopped outside a door.

“Is this it?” Carol asked. Natasha nodded. Carol’s hand started to glow. “I can deal with the lock”

“Calm down,” Natasha replied. She pulled a paperclip and hair grip out of her pocket. “We can get in without blowing anything up.” After a few moments, the lock clicked, and the door swung open.

Carol was the first through the door. A quick sweep of the main room confirmed that whatever it was she was looking for wasn’t there. She went further into the apartment, searching through the other rooms.

The others hung back in the first room, leaving Carol to her own devices.

“Do you have any idea what she’s looking for?” Bruce asked

Natasha shook her head. “Not a clue. It’s really beginning to piss me off how little I can get from her”

“Whatever it is, I hope it’s not furniture,” Steve joked. He looked around the room. “Seriously, you’d think that they’d at least have a couple of chairs”

“There you are,” Carol said from the other room in a soft voice. She came out from the back cradling a ginger cat in her arms. “I found her”

“Why do you have a cat?” Steve asked.

“Her name is Goose and she’s not a cat, she’s a flerken, an alien that just looks like a cat,” Carol explained. “I knew Fury had kept her when I left, and flerkens have much longer lifespans than cats, so I just thought that maybe she’d still be here”

“You brought us all the way out here for a cat?” Natasha asked.

Carol looked slightly offended. “She’s a flerken and I love her. Of course, I came to find her.” She pressed herself closer to Goose so that she was talking into the flerken’s ear. “Didn’t I Goose, I wouldn’t leave you, no.” Goose flicked her tail lightly. “Please don’t scratch my eye out”

“Is this all you needed?” Steve asked. Carol nodded. “Then we should probably go”

As the group was leaving, the woman in the apartment opposite opened her door. She caught sight of Goose in Carol’s arms and hissed something in Russian. Natasha shot her a confused look and ushered the group down the hallway back towards the stairs.

“What did she say?” Bruce asked.

“She called Goose a devil cat,” Natasha explained, shooting a look at the cat now contently curling up in Carol’s lap.

Carol rubbed the top of Goose’s head, earning a loud purr in response. “Why would the old lady be so mean?”

***

“Is that a cat?” Pepper asked as the others arrived back.

Thor looked over and grinned widely. “That’s not a cat, it’s a flerken.” He ran over and stared at the flerken in awe. “I haven’t seen one of these in years, such amazing creatures. And what is this fantastic beast’s name?”

“Goose,” Carol answered.

“And what a fine name that is,” Thor replied, scratching the back of Goose’s ear.

“Were you planning on keeping her here?” Rhodey asked. Carol and Thor both shot Pepper a pleading look.

Pepper sighed. “Do what you want, I don’t live here anymore. If you want to keep the cat, the flerken, keep her”

Thor beamed. “Thank you lady Pepper, we will make sure that Goose does not destroy the place”

Pepper looked like she wanted to ask what Thor meant by Goose destroying the place but decided she’d rather not.

***

“Nat, did you hear that?” Bruce asked.

Natasha groaned slightly and burrowed her face into the pillow. “What time is it?”

“About half two,” he replied. A thud sounded outside the room. “Should we go see what that was?”

“Probably,” Natasha sighed. She and Bruce left the room to find a dining chair laying on its side, covered in something sticky. “What the hell?”

Steve, Thor and Carol all appeared from their rooms as well. Carol spotted the chair and sighed.

“Goose!” she called as she rushed down the corridor. Everyone followed her, noticing the trail of small household items and furniture littering the way.

They found Goose in the living room, retching loudly.

“What’s wrong with her?” Natasha asked. “Hairball?”

Goose coughed loudly once more, and her mouth opened wider than most of the Avengers had seen a cat’s mouth open. The tentacles were also a surprise, as was the small sofa that Goose chucked up onto the carpet.

“What the actual fuck?” Steve asked.

“Watch your language captain,” Natasha scolded. “But seriously Carol, what the fuck did your flerken do?”

“She must’ve eaten something that disagreed with her,” Carol said.

“She ate a sofa?” Bruce asked.

“That’s why there was no furniture at Fury and Hill’s place,” Steve said. “She ate it all”

Goose opened her mouth and the tentacles dragged a lamp in the corner of the room back into her mouth.

“We’re going to have to explain this all to Pepper,” Natasha said.

“What have we gotten ourselves into?”


	4. Ari Needs a Pay Rise

****

Ariella Rosa Iglesias, known as Ari to her friends, had always been the top of her class right the way through school. Being the top of her class was what had earned her the internship shadowing Dr Jessica Andrews, the therapist at the Avengers Compound before she was able to qualify as a therapist herself. At least, that had been the plan before half the universe had turned into dust. Now, Ari was the only person in the entire building with any semblance of training in the entire Compound, the only person to deal with a group of highly traumatised superheroes. By the time she was done with them, _she_ would be the one needing therapy.

She was arranging the notes in her office when she heard a knock at the door. “Who is it?” she yelled.

The door opened, revealing Natasha and a woman that Ari had never seen before. “Hi, Ari,” Natasha greeted. “This is Carol. She’s new and I thought you’d want to be introduced”

“Hi,” Carol said. “I’m Captain Marvel. And this is Goose.” She held out a ginger cat to Ari. “If she eats any of your furniture, I apologise now”

The two women disappeared, leaving Ari alone again. “Why would the cat eat my furniture? Why?”

***

 “Hey, can I talk to you for a bit?” Carol asked as she walked into Ari’s office.

If she was bothered by the sudden entrance from Carol, Ari didn’t show it. “Sure, that’s kinda my job”

Carol walked into the room, Goose trailing after her. She flopped down on the sofa, letting the cat lay on her stomach as she spread out.

“What do you want to talk about?” Ari asked.

Carol sighed. “I don’t know, I’ve just had a weird couple of days, y’know? This is the first time I’ve been back on Earth in over two decades. And since I’ve got back, I found out that two of the people I worked with last time I was here have died, and one of them named a group of superheroes after me, which is pretty cool. It’s just a lot to take in. And last time I was here was pretty insane”

“In what way?”

Carol began to tell Ari what happened in 1995. As she continued, Ari began to take notes in one of the many notepads she kept lying around her office.

Carol paused. “Why are you writing? And what are you writing?”

“I write down anything I feel is important,” Ari answered. “Keep going”

Carol continued talking, Ari getting more and more worried about Carol by the second. When she was done, Ari took a deep breath and sighed. “Carol, are you okay? Like, seriously, are you sure you’re doing okay?”

“I think I’m okay,” Carol replied. She sat up, moving Goose down to her lap. “Thanks for the talk.” She left the room, leaving Ari watching her go.

“How is she okay?” Ari exclaimed to the empty office. “She can’t be okay… she’ll be back… hopefully”

***

“Are you free right now?” a voice asked.

Ari looked up to see Thor at her door. “Sure,” she replied, quickly hiding what she had been working on. It wasn’t often that she saw Thor and when he did show up, he rarely talked about anything that had happened to him since he’d left after Ultron. “What did you need? Is there anything you needed to talk to me about? Is it about your mom?”

Thor shook his head. “That was years ago, I still miss her, but there’s more that’s happened since then”

“Like what?” Ari asked.

“My Dad died, found out I had an evil older sister, my hammer was destroyed, got stuck in a gladiator ring on an alien planet, had my hair cut off by a creepy old man, lost my eye, Asgard was destroyed and then Thanos attacked the ship with the last of the Asgardian refugees and killed half my people, including Heimdall and my brother,” Thor listed off.

Ari blinked a few times in shock. “That’s a lot, I’m so sorry that you went through all that. Have you heard from any of the survivors of the attack?”

“Not yet, but I’m holding out hope,” he replied. “My friend Valkyrie should be looking after them, but I don’t know what happened to her after Thanos.” He stood up. “Thank you for the talk.” He walked out of the room before Ari could say another word.

“Why do they keep leaving before I can say anything?” she muttered to herself, hitting her head against the desk.

***

“Pepper, you have no idea how happy I am to see you,” Ari said with a smile. The other woman gave her a confused look. “Not that I’m glad that you feel you need to be coming to see me, it’s just everyone else is a little, well…”

“I get what you mean,” Pepper laughed. “They’re all too stubborn to let anyone help them”

Ari laughed lightly. “What was it you wanted to talk about?” She tried not to push, but in the entirety of time Ari had been working with the Avengers since half the universe had been killed, she hadn’t brought up her missing fiancé once.

“Just work,” Pepper answered casually. “It’s been a struggle recently. Those left on the board are pissed off because despite there being only half the people spending money, they seem to expect the company to still be making as much profit as we were making before. They all lost people, you’d think they’d have some empathy and understanding to how everything has changed”

“And that’s all you want to talk about?” Ari asked.

“Yeah, why?” Pepper asked.

“No reason,” Ari replied. “No reason at all”

“Thanks, good talk,” Pepper said, leaving the room.

“That wasn’t a talk,” Ari muttered to herself. “You weren’t even here for five minutes. Just become an Avenger yourself. Too stubborn to let anyone help, fucking hell”

***

Ari was sat on the floor, drinking coffee and reading through some of Dr Andrews’ notes that she’d found in a filing cabinet. She raised her eyebrows as she flicked through the pages. “Dear god, these people.” Some of the notes went back as far as before half the Avengers became international fugitives, leaving Ari more worried as she realised what had been happening to Avengers for years. “Would it be unprofessional to hug them?” she asked the mug of coffee. “Why am I talking to my coffee?” She looked around the room in desperation. “Is this what happens when I spend too much time around the Avengers?”

“Ari, are you in there?” Natasha called from the other side of the door. Ari jumped to her feet and opened the door, allowing the spy into the room. Natasha spotted the notebooks open on the floor. “Are those Dr Andrews’?”

“Uh, yeah, they are,” Ari answered as she cleared them up from the pile she’d left them abandoned in on the floor.

“Have they been an interesting read?” Natasha teased.

“Interesting is one word for it. What was it you needed me for?” Ari asked.

“It’s just, it’s been a while since I came to see you, and everyone else was bugging me about it,” Natasha answered honestly. She dropped down onto the sofa and hunched up, hugging her legs to her chest.

“How have you been since we last spoke?” Ari said. “Which was, what, three weeks ago?”

“Don’t shame me like this,” Natasha joked. “How often do the others come?”

“Most once a week,” Ari answered. “Steve only comes every other week, but Bruce comes at least twice a week”

“Guess I must be the group disappointment,” Natasha sighed.

“You’re not, you come as often as you feel you need,” Ari asked. She remembered some of Dr Andrews’ notes about how Natasha had been after Bruce had left following Ultron. “Speaking of Bruce, how are things with the two of you?”

“What does it matter to you?” Natasha demanded, instinctively switching to defensive mode the second she was asked about her love life.

“He mentioned a while ago that the two of you had gotten together,” Ari explained. “And I think you’ve seemed happier since”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Half of few friends I had are dead, and you think I’m happy?”

“Not happy exactly, but it seems that both of you have seemed better in yourselves,” Ari answered. “You seem content. You both do”

Natasha chewed on her lip for a second. “I guess you’re right. I have found things a lot easier, and a little happier since if that’s how you want to put it.” She looked up at Ari. “Was there something in Dr Andrews’ notes about me and Bruce”

“She might have mentioned it a few times,” Ari admitted. “She was a little worried about you, even after you left, she mentioned to me a few times. She was gearing me up for working with everyone if you ever came back”

“Good thing she did,” Natasha joked. “Sorry, you’re stuck with all of us”

“It’s fine,” Ari reassured. “You guys are far from the worst I have ever had to work with. Definitely the weirdest, but far from the worse. I’m glad you feel like you’re doing better”

“Thanks,” Natasha muttered. “Can I come talk to you again? Like, tomorrow?”

“That’s would be brilliant,” Ari replied.

“I’ll see you then,” Natasha said as she left the room. She called back behind as she walked away. “Although, I will probably forget”

Ari sighed. “That was going so well”

***

Carol walked back into Ari’s office a week after they first spoke. “So, I don’t think I’m okay as I thought I was”

“Come on in,” Ari said. “What’s wrong?”

“So, Goose puked up one of Fury’s shoes and I started crying,” Carol explained. “I not sure I’m dealing with this as well as I thought I was”

“Goose puked up a shoe?” Ari asked nervously.

“Yeah, she’s a flerken, they’ll eat everything they can get their paws on,” Carol said.

“Is that what you meant by she might eat the furniture?”

“Yeah, but I’m seriously not sure I’m as okay as I thought I was.” Carol flopped backwards on the sofa. “I mean, crying over a shoe, really?”

“Maybe, it’s not the shoe, but rather the memories the show brings,” Ari suggested. “It belonged to someone you lost, someone who you weren’t with when he died and you hadn’t seen in years, and then you didn’t even know for months that he’d been killed. Not being okay after that is completely acceptable, practically expected. Especially considering how close the two of you were”

“What do you mean?” Carol asked.

Ari sighed slightly. “The way you had told me about him and your relationship the other day made it seem that you were both very close, especially considering at the time you were unable to remember much of your past, it’s possible that you may have seen him as a surrogate father figure, which seems to be a recurring theme with Fury and the Avengers”

“I did not see him as a father figure,” Carol argued.

“If anything, she saw him as a bother figure,” Steve added as he walked past.

Ari sighed and closed the door. “I probably should’ve done that earlier”

“What was he talking about?” Carol asked.

“He won’t stop quoting Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Ari explained. “But we were talking about you, not Steve. You miss Fury, but what about the others? Have you looked into what happened to Maria and Monica?”

Carol hugged Goose a little closer to her. “No”

“Is there any reason you think you’ve done that?” Ari asked.

“If I go looking, then if they’ve died, then that’s it,” Carol replied. “But until I go looking, I don’t know. I can pretend that they’re both okay. They were my family, and if they’ve died, then I feel like I’ve let them down. Like I did with Fury, who I guess you could argue is, was, someone I considered to be family”

“Not looking them up isn’t going to help you,” Ari said. “The more you drag this out, the worse you’re making it for yourself. You’ll find it easier to move on if you know; you can’t grieve someone if you still think they’re alive”

“You’re right,” Carol said. She stood up, scooping up Goose as she went. “I’m going to look them up”

***

“I’m back,” Natasha proudly announced.

“It’s been a month,” Ari replied in a deadpan voice.

“I am aware of that”

“You said that you’d be back the next day”

“It appears that I was wrong,” Natasha admitted. “But I’m back now”

“Is there anything in particular that you wanted to talk about?” Ari asked.

Natasha didn’t say anything for a few moments, going back to her usual position of hugging her legs to her chest. “I keep putting off coming back to you because I am not a fan of talking about my emotions, but that is not helping me at all. So, here I am”

“I am really proud of you for coming back,” Ari said, earning a small smile from Natasha.

***

When Natasha left an hour later, Ari felt that for the first time since she’d started working with the Avengers that she had actually made a difference. She glanced at the clock, wondering how long it would actually last.

A few minutes later, Steve walked in and sat down opposite Ari. It had been a couple of weeks since Ari had last seen Steve and since then he’d grown the beard again, or as Natasha referred to it, the sad beard.

“Not doing too well again, are you?” Ari asked.

Steve looked confused. “How could you tell?”

Ari shook her head. “Let’s get started”

***

As Carol was leaving Ari’s office a few days later, Rhodey intercepted her and handed over a large bottle of wine.

“It’s good stuff, took it from Tony’s private collection myself,” he said. “Think of it as a thank you and an apology from all of us”

“Thanks,” Ari replied as she took the bottle from Rhodey. “But the last couple of weeks have been alright, they’ve been good actually.” She threw a glance down the corridor, watching Carol and Goose leave. “For some of us at least”

“Yeah, I heard about Maria, poor woman. At least Monica’s okay,” Rhodey agreed. “But that’s not what the apology was for”

Ari paled. “What’s the apology for?” she nervously asked.

Rhodey didn’t respond, just walked away as Bruce turned the corner and came into view. Ari could see that he’d been crying. He walked into the room without saying a word. Ari followed.

“What’s with the alcohol?” Bruce asked, eyeing the bottle of wine.

“A gift from Rhodey, a thank you for working with all you despite what happened,” she explained, omitting the part where Rhodey also referred to the wine as an apology. “What happened?”

“Things have been getting... tense with Natasha recently,” Bruce began. “Something’s bothering her and every time I try and talk to her about it, she either deflects the question or lashes out at me. We just got in a really bad argument and I needed to get some space, and I ended up here”

“She is used to being secretive, she’s been forced to be all her life,” Ari pointed out.

“I know,” Bruce replied with a sigh. “I just thought, hoped, that things were different with us, that she could trust me”

Before Ari could respond, the door was thrown open and an equally upset looking Natasha entered the room. She went to speak but froze when she saw Bruce. “Do you want me to leave?” she asked.

“No, come in,” Ari encouraged. Bruce stood to leave. “You stay too.” She stared the couple down as they sat at opposite ends of the sofa. “I should warn you that I don’t have much experience with couple’s counselling, but I'll do the best I can”

“We don’t need couple’s counselling,” Natasha snapped defensively. Ari raised her eyebrows slightly. “Okay, maybe there is a small possibility that that might be a good idea right now.” She shot Bruce a look out of the corner of her eye. “Just a little”

“So, what’s been going on with the two of you recently?” Ari asked. “This isn’t like the two of you to get into a big argument. Something must’ve happened to cause this”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Natasha muttered, already sitting in her usual position of hugging her knees to her chest.

“Nat, please,” Bruce begged. “Ari’s right, this isn’t like you. I know you’ve always had to keep secrets, but I just thought that you trusted and felt like you could talk to me”

“I can, I can trust you, I really do,” Natasha said. “It’s just that this has been something that I have always struggled with talking to other people about”

“Is it something to do with your past?” Ari asked. “I know you’ve never been comfortable talking about your life before S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“It’s not about that,” Natasha explained. She sighed slightly. “It’s just it’s always been something that I’ve never been comfortable talking to anyone about because it was never really my choice whether or not I can talk to someone about it. It was someone else’s place to decide if they could be trusted”

Something seemed to click in Bruce’s mind as Natasha spoke. A shocked and pained look spread onto his face. “Natasha, I’m so sorry,” he apologised. “I didn’t realise”

“It’s not your fault,” Natasha replied. “I should’ve been more honest with you. It’s not like you didn’t know about any of this already. And I’m sorry for lashing out at you, that wasn’t fair, you were just trying to help”

“And I’m sorry for pushing you,” Bruce added. “You didn’t want to talk, and I wouldn’t listen to you when you said that you didn’t want to talk.” He moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her.

Ari smiled at the two. “I have no idea what the two of you are talking about, but I’m glad that you’ve managed to sort this out”

Bruce and Natasha stood up to leave. Ari grinned slightly when she saw Natasha’s hand reach out to grab Bruce’s as they left. She sighed and slumped back in her chair, eyeing up the bottle of wine.

“You have no idea what they’re talking about, do you?” Rhodey asked. Ari looked over to see that he’d reappeared at the door, accompanied by Pepper, Carol and Goose.

“Not a clue, care to inform me?” Ari replied.

“Your guess is good as ours,” Pepper sighed. “Those two, Thor and Steve are hiding something from us and it’s really beginning to annoy me”

“Y’know, if you came with us to ask them about it, then we’ll have even numbers,” Carol suggested. “We’ll actually outnumber them if we’re counting Goose”

Ari stared at the group for a few moments as she wondered how her career had gotten to this point. “Sure, why not? My job literally cannot get any weirder at this point”

***

“Is something wrong?” Natasha asked. The two groups were sat in the living room, facing each other from opposite sofas.

“Actually, there is,” Pepper said. “You’ve all been hiding something from us for ages now and after everything that’s happened, I don’t think it’s fair on any of us for there to still be secrets on this team”

“Also, really alienating the new girl,” Carol added. Both Steve and Natasha looked ready to make a smartass comment. “Please no jokes about that time I thought I was an alien; I regret telling you any of that”

“Can’t say,” Steve replied coolly. “It’s not up to us what you guys know about any of this”

“Well,” Thor said. “Two of them kinda knew before, they just don’t know now”

“And we were meant to be going to, you know, _there_ anyway,” Bruce added.

Natasha didn’t add anything to the conversation. She was instead sat on her phone, texting something in Russian to a number that the others didn’t recognise. After a few moments, she got a reply and put her phone away. “We’re not going to tell you, but we are can show you, all of you”

“Cool,” Rhodey replied. “When do we leave?”

“This evening, it should only take us a couple of hours to get there by car,” Steve answered.

“Guess we’d better pack then,” Pepper joked.

“Wait, is that it?” Ari asked. “They say we’re off to whatever secretive place or thing they’ve been hiding for months and we just go?”

“That’s kinda how things work with the Avengers,” Rhodey explained. “Now, are you in or not? Because I have a feeling that if you don’t come, then nobody is going to be able to tell you what you missed out on”

Ari sighed and weighed up her options: stay back in New York and have a couple of days free from Avengers drama or follow the Avengers to wherever they were going and be one of the few civilians to ever be trusted with something that the Avengers were determined to be kept secret. “Fine, I’m in”


	5. We May Have Lied to the Government

“Could we not have taken two cars?” Ari asked. The group had managed to cram into a small minivan, flerken and all.

“Probably, but we’re sticking together for this,” Steve replied.

“So, this thing that you’re hiding, would you say it’s a bigger secret than that time Hawkeye hid his entire family from us for three years or not?” Rhodey asked. Nobody answered. “Good talk”

“Hawkeye hid his family from you for three years?” Carol exclaimed. Sometimes the others forgot that she’d only just joined the team within the last couple of months and wasn’t up to date on the last few years of Avengers drama. “Why?”

“It wasn’t just us,” Bruce answered. “It was everyone. With all the enemies he made at S.H.I.E.L.D., he knew that they were safer hidden away. We didn’t find out until me and Tony accidentally created a murder-bot hellbent on the destruction of all humanity”

“That’s why Clint took the plea deal in the raft,” Natasha added. “It came with house arrest and guaranteed FBI protection for his family now that Tony had accidentally revealed that they existed. He would’ve escaped with the rest and gone back to his family in secret”

“Something that Tony is very sorry for,” Pepper interjected.

When it came to Tony, they always talked about him in first person. According to Ari, it was probably a coping method. After all, they’d lost so many friends, and as they didn’t know for certain what had happened to Tony, they wanted to assume that he was still out there somewhere, alive, until they knew otherwise.

With the Barton family, it was a different story entirely. They had been on Earth when it all happened, so they were easily able to confirm their fates after the snap.

***

_Three days after the snap._

Rhodey was sat in front of the computer screen in his office at the Avengers Compound. He had been given the task of filling out the online forms to confirm those that had been lost in the snap. It was a depressingly easy job. The link to the forms could be found on several different governmental websites and were incredibly simple to fill out. There were even official YouTube tutorials on how to do it, in multiple languages so that anyone could declare their friends and family dead with ease.

He looked up when he heard a knock on the door. Natasha was hovering in the doorway.

“Heard you were leaving soon,” she said.

Rhodey sighed. “Pepper won’t say it, but she doesn’t like being back at their place without him,” he explained, unable to bring himself to say his missing friend’s name. “I just need to finish filling out the forms for everyone that we lost and then I’ll be off”

“Can you add a few names on for me?” she asked. “I would do it myself, but me and the rest of the former rogue Avengers have been formally banned by Ross from using government services until he can decide what to do with us after the emergency government and military meetings are over. Which could be a while”

“Not like you to listen to Ross,” Rhodey teased.

“After the last few days, I really don’t have it in me to start a fight with him right now,” Natasha said.

Rhodey nodded. “I get it. Who did you want me to add?”

“The FBI guards that were stationed at Barton’s place, the ones making sure he didn’t break his house arrest,” she answered. There was a brief pause. “And Laura, Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel”

“Natasha, I’m so sorry,” Rhodey said. He was shocked, after everything that had happened, this didn’t seem fair. Clint hadn’t been in the fight and yet he’d still lost his wife and kids. “How’s Clint?”

“Not good,” Natasha explained. “He called me to say what had happened and demanded answers. I told what Thanos had done and then he hung up on me. I heard from him again a few days later. He’s left the farm and is off god knows where doing god knows what. I’m trying to find him, but for now, can you do this for him, so he doesn’t have to?”

“Of course. If you find him, just… tell him I’m sorry. Sorry we couldn’t do any better”

***

Bruce pulled the minivan up outside a house. It was late in the evening now and the curtains were drawn, soft light glowing through from the inside. They could see figures moving around in the house, shadows cast against the curtains.

“Who’s here?” Rhodey asked as he and the others began to get out the minivan.

The front door was suddenly thrown open. In the doorway stood a young girl with her long brown hair in two long plaits.

“Auntie Nat, you said you’d come visit months ago,” she called down to the minivan.

“Is that Lila Barton?” Rhodey asked. Natasha nodded. “I thought she was dead. Wait, what actually happened to the rest of the Bartons?”

***

_Three days after the snap. Twenty minutes after Natasha talked to Rhodey._

After they spoke, Natasha went on a walk outside, walking along the trails that twisted through the patch of woodland surrounding the edges of the Compound. She just wanted to clear her head, at least that’s what she said when she left. Once she was sure she was far enough away from the Compound, she pulled out her phone. Dialling the number that she had memorised all those years ago, she barely had to wait five seconds before the person on the other end picked up.

“Hello”

Natasha smiled a real smile when she heard her friends voice. “Hey, Laura. Tell your husband that I did it. The world now thinks you’re dead. Now, you two better get those three kids out of there and go hide somewhere else before someone decides to check my story. And tell them that Auntie Nat will see them soon”

***

“We lied,” Natasha explained. “They’re fine. We were just trying to protect them. Without the FBI’s protection, this was the best way to make sure that nobody came after them”

“And you lied to us?” Rhodey demanded.

“Clint asked us to keep the circle of people that knew as small as possible,” Steve answered. “We kept it between the four of us”

“Are we going in?” Carol asked. “Goose is getting annoyed in her carrier”

Most of them stood and got out of the minivan. Natasha was sat in the minivan still. Bruce waited with her in the driver’s seat. He’d wait as long as she needed him to.

“Are you okay?” he asked. Behind them, he heard the back door being shut as the other’s had unloaded the bags. It was just the two of them left now.

“I’m fine, really,” Natasha said, although Bruce could see that even she didn’t quite believe herself. “It’s just this is the first time I’ve seen them since it all happened and I feel like I let them down, not being able to bring Wanda back to them”

“What are you talking about?” Bruce asked unsure Wanda had to do with any of this.

“They were close to her,” Natasha explained. “You know I said that Pietro died in Sokovia when we were fighting Ultron?” Bruce nodded. “Well, he was killed saving Clint. After that, Clint brought her back to the farm for a while, to give Wanda some time away from the rest of the team and people asking questions, gave her time to grieve. She became an honorary Barton kid and they loved her. And they’re not going to see her again”

“That’s not your fault,” Bruce argued. “Natasha, you’re their family too. They’ll be missing you as well. And I know that you can’t give them their daughter back, but you can still be there for them”

“I know,” Natasha sighed. “This just sucks.” She got out of the minivan and Bruce followed her. The others had already taken Bruce and Natasha’s bags, so they headed straight up the stairs.

Laura quickly pounced on her friend as she walked through the door. “I’ve missed you,” she said.

“I’ve missed you too,” Natasha replied.

Lila raced up and joined in the hug. “You finally came Auntie Nat!” She shot a look at Bruce. “This group hug is open for others to join in”

Bruce laughed lightly and came over to join the hug. After a few moments, they broke apart and walked into the main room downstairs. If anyone noticed the few tears in the corners of Natasha’s eyes, they didn’t mention it.

“Look what the cat finally dragged in,” Clint said sarcastically from where he was stood talking to Steve, Thor and Rhodey.

“Nice to see you too Barton,” Natasha joked.

“Careful with her,” Carol instructed. Natasha looked over to see Cooper and Carol sat on the floor playing with Goose. “She likes to bite”

“I used to live on a farm,” Cooper replied. “I’m used to animals biting”

“You should listen to Carol,” Ari added from where she was sat on a sofa with Pepper. “Goose has got a very big bite. And stomach”

Laura shot Carol a confused look. “What kind of cat is she?”

“She’s a flerken, an alien that looks like a cat,” Carol explained. “She can eat furniture whole. Actually, one time she ate the tesseract”

Everyone stared at Goose in silence for a  few moments.

“So, the cat, sorry, the flerken, ate an infinity stone,” Clint said. “Are we now adding an alien cat to the Avengers?”

Lila grinned. “Is she going to get a suit?”

“I’m not going to try that,” Carol laughed. “I’m not joining the Kree she ate in the nineties in her stomach”

“I think we’re missing out on a story here,” Laura said as she moved Nate away from the flerken.

Carol grinned as everyone sat down to listen. “So, it all started when I got in a plane crash and then abducted by aliens…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that they're going to fridge the entire Barton family for maximum angst, but until then, let me have them goddammit.
> 
> Also, I have one other chapter that I have planned. My goal is to have it written by the end of tomorrow (when I see Endgame argh) although I might not be able to post until Friday

**Author's Note:**

> It goes without saying, don't mix ethanol with regular alcohol. It's not a good idea, just don't.


End file.
